Published:First published inRabochyNo. 1, April 22, 1914.

      Printed from theRabochytext.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1971,

      Moscow,Volume 36,

      pages281-284.Translated:Andrew RothsteinTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Wehave given a brief review of the history of the
working-class press in Russia and of the origin ofPravda. We
have tried to show how the age-long history of democratic
movements in Russia led to the formation of an
independent working-class democratic movement under the
ideological banner of Marxism—and how the twenty years’
history of Marxism and the working-class movement in
Russia, as a result of the long struggle of the workers’
vanguard against petty-bourgeois opportunist trends, led to
the rallying of the vast majority of class-conscious workers
aroundPravda, which was created by the famous upsurge
of the working-class movement in the spring of 1912.

Wehave seen how, during the paper’s two years,
class-conscious Pravdist workers united ideologically, and to
a certain extent also organisationally, by their efforts
creating and supporting, strengthening and developing a
consistently Marxist workers’ press. Strictly insisting on their
continuity with the organised Marxists of the preceding
historical epoch, not breaking any of their decisions,
building the new on the foundations of the old, and going
systematically, unswervingly ahead to the firmly and precisely
stated aim of consistent Marxism, the Pravdist workers have
begun the solution of an unusually difficult historic task.

Awhole host of enemies, a whole mass of difficulties,
both external and internal, arose in the way of the labour
movement in the 1908–11 epoch. In no country in the world
has the working-class movement hitherto succeeded in
emerging fromsuchcrises while maintaining its continuity,
its organised character, its loyalty to the old decisions,
programme and tactics.

Butthe Russian workers—or more exactly the workers
of Russia—succeededin this; they succeeded in emerging
with flying colours from an incredibly painful crisis,
remaining loyal to the past and maintaining continuity of
organisation, while masteringnewforms of training for
their forces,newmethods of education and mobilisation
of fresh generations of the proletariat for the solution by
old methods of old but still outstanding historic
problems.

Ofall the classes of Russian society, the working class
of Russia alone succeeded in this—not, of course, because
it stood higher than the workers of other countries: on the
contrary, it is still far behind them in organisation and
class-consciousness. It succeeded in this because itreliedat once on theexperienceof the workers of the whole world,
both on their theoretical experience, on the achievements
of their class-consciousness, their science and experience
summed up byMarxismand on the practical experience
of the proletarians of neighbouring countries, with their
magnificent workers’ press and their mass organisations.

ThePravdist workers, having safeguardedtheir ownline
in the most difficult and painful of periods against
persecution from without and against despondency, scepticism,
timidity and betrayal within, can now say to themselves,
with full awareness and resolution: we know that we are
on the right path, but we are taking only the first steps
along that path, and the principal difficulties still lie ahead
of us, we still have to do a great deal to consolidate our
own position completely, and to raise to conscious activity
millions of backward, dormant and downtrodden
proletarians.

Letthe petty-bourgeois “fellow-travellers” of the
proletariat, slavishly following the liberals, hold forth
contemptuously against “the underground”, against “
advertising the illegal press”; let them cherish illusions about
the June Third “legality”. We know the fragile nature of
that “legality”, we shall not forget the historic lessons of
the importance of an illegal press.

Developingfurther our “Pravdist” work, we shall push
ahead with the purely newspaper side hand in hand withallsides of the workers’ cause.

PutPravdymust be circulated in three, four and five
times as many copies as today. We must put out a trade
union supplement, and have representatives of all trade
unions and groups on the editorial board. Our paper must
have regional (Moscow, Urals, Caucasian, Baltic,
Ukrainian) supplements. We must consolidate—despite all the
bourgeois and petty-bourgeois nationalists of all nations
without exception—the unity of the workers ofallthe
nationalities of Russia, and for this purpose, incidentally,
start supplements in our paper devoted to the workers’
movement of the various nationalities of Russia.

Boththe foreign department ofPut Pravdyand the
chronicle of theorganisational, ideological and political
life of the class-conscious workers should be expanded many
times over.

Wemust create a kopekVechernaya Pravda.Put Pravdyin its present shape is essential for the class-conscious
worker and should be still further enlarged, but it is too
dear, too difficult, too big for the worker in the street, for
the rank-and-filer, for any of the millions not yet drawn
into the movement. The advanced worker will never forget
about them, for he knows that craft isolation, the
emergence of a labour aristocracy and its separation from the
masses mean degradation and brutalisation of the
proletarian and his transformation into a miserable philistine,
a pitiful flunkey; it means loss of all hope of his
emancipation.

Thereis need to start a kopekVechernaya Pravda, with
a circulation of 200,000 or 300,000 copies in the very thick
of the proletarian and semi-proletarian masses, showing
them the light of the world-wide working-class movement,
inspiring them with faith in their strength, impelling them
towards unity and helping them to rise to full
class-consciousness.

Wemust secure a much greater degree of organisation
on the part of the readers ofPut Pravdythan there is now,
in their various factories, districts, etc., and more active
participation in correspondence and running and
circulating the paper. We must get the workers to take a regular
part in editorial work.

Wemust have—there is in fact a great deal more thatwe must have! We cannot list here everything that we need;
we would even be ridiculous (and worse) if we attempted
here to enumerate all spheres, or even the principal fields
of our work!

Weknow that we are on the right path. We know that
we are marching hand in hand with the forward-looking
workers of all countries. We know that this field of our
work is only a small part of the whole, and that we are
still at the beginning of our great road to emancipation.
But we also know that nothing on earth can stop us on
that road.